Today, a court granted Google's motion for summary judgment in Viacom?s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement.

US District Court Judge Louis Stanton said that YouTube
was protected against Viacom's claims of "massive copyright
infringement" by provisions of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act. The legislation provides protection for
Internet firms from copyright violations by their users,
and the judge ruled that YouTube's actions, such as quickly
removing infringing videos when requested, were in line
with the act.

Google welcomed the ruling, while Viacom vowed to appeal.

"This is an important victory not just for us, but also for
the billions of people around the world who use the Web to
communicate and share experiences with each other," Google
general counsel Kent Walker said in a blog post.

"The decision follows established judicial consensus that
online services like YouTube are protected when they work
cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage
their rights online," Walker said.

Viacom was disappointed with the judge's ruling but would
appeal.

Viacom sued Google and YouTube for a
billion dollars in March 2007, arguing that they condoned
pirated video clips at the website to boost its popularity.

The lawsuit was merged with a similar complaint being
pursued by the English Premier League, which said football
clips were also routinely posted on YouTube without
authorization.